John...Real or A Figment of the Imagination?

We get to Frankfurt airport where our next flight was departing from. It was slightly confusing, our crumpled piece of transfer paper said we were flying on Aegean at 9:15 and the ticket counter didn't open until 10:00 to give us boarding passes. After a little confusion, and some strong coffee we figured out it had changed to a Luftansa flight and everything was fine. Easy flight, nothing to write home (or on the blog) about.
So we get to Athens, you know what customs was? A door. That's it. Nothing more than some doors. So we go to get our luggage. Let me tell you Marc had been a little negative about the luggage. He kept saying, "That was a quick change, i don't know if our bags will make it." I kept saying, "Of course they will. Why would you even think that?" Guess who's bag came out like first? Mine. Uh oh, guess whose bag didn't make it out of Philly yet? Um hm, Marc Schramms. He has been wearing some Tommy Bahama shorts and a t-shirt that says South Beach for a looooonnnnng time now......
Then, we go to get our car. This is true (I'm sorry Marc) I say, "Do you think this is a good idea? Maybe we should just take a cab." "No, no, this is all part of what we're doing," says Marc. Now the rental guy didn't even give us good directions as to where to pick up the rental car so I'm feeling a little nervous about finding our hotel in a foreign city that uses a different alphabet than us. One that we are only familiar with from 6 weeks of pledging about 20 years ago. But ok. I'm easy. Go get'm Tiger. Our hotel is out here somewhere....

Totally lost. Lost. Lost. Lost. Went way to far in the wrong direction. Turned around. Made it into Athens, which by the way is not called Athens here. It's called Athina. We had this map this the most useless waste of a tree ever.The one direction the dumb ass from the rental place had given us was a road name. We drive and drive and Marc somehow, I don't know how, spots the road. It takes us to.....um, I don't know. Part of the city we don't need to go to. No sign of the hotel. No one is really appreciating Marc calling out the window saying, "English?" "Do you speak English?" They're basically just blowing us off. So we're at the point of not saying anything to each other. Sometimes it's just better that way. Marc pulls over. He says, "I'm going to find someone who speaks English." I just stare straight ahead and make no eye contact. I've been here before, I know how to play this game. Then, I swear this is true, he comes to the car with this stranger and says, "He's going to come with us." Huh? "All right." I say. Then I hop in the back seat, I mean, being car jacked and losing all of our worldly possesions or driving through Athina with Marc for the next week looking the hotel? Um, I'll take car jacked for $400 Alec. So the guy gets in, his name is John. John seriously drives with us for like 25 minutes. He's on the phone speaking Greek and the only word I can make out is Americanos. I'm just glad I didn't hear the word stupid in there. Although I only know two greek words and that's not one of them. Let me tell you, John from Cincinatti totally got us to our hotel. Drove all the way with us. Wouldn't take a dime. Just got out when we pulled up front and said, "Enjoy your stay in Athens."
Later as we decompressed by the rooftop pool we wondered, was there really a John?

Flight Out

So this is how it went down. We get to the airport early. Totally and completely unheard of for us. We are those annoying people that if you are traveling with , make you nervous. We will show up to the airport at the last minute and walk onto the plane when they are about to close the doors. Not today, today Marc wanted to get moving. So we were a little early. We had something to eat and a cocktail and hung out. So we get to our gate and we are sitting there and the woman at the desk gives the same old shtick about being overbooked and does anyone want to give up their seat and get free tickets. Now usually I totally ignore this announcement, but this time I am on the phone with Lisa and she says, "Do it. But get upgraded." I say to Marc, "Go tell her we don't care about free tickets we just want to be upgraded and we'll take the other flight." He looks at me and says, "I don't feel like it." Hmmmm..... Well I do. So I go up and tell the lady this. I actually say, "If you can put us first class all the way through we'll take that other flight." She looks at me like I'm crazy and says, "For every flight? I can't do that." I say, "Well, see what you can do." So after a couple minutes they call me back up and tell me they can fly us first class over, we will get in three hours later with a layover and she still has to give us the free tickets. Hmmm. Okay. Works for me. We were getting there to early to check in to our hotel anyway. So now we're sitting pretty with our hot towels and sleeper seats and all the comforts of home, well the comforts plus a helper to do them for you. And to add good to the great our old flight got delayed so it didn't matter anyway.
Then in the seat right next to us in the aisle is this girl with mala beads on, a pierced nose and a tattoo on her back. Of course I want to be her friend. Marc knows this and so in his friendly way says, "So where are you going to?" She smiles and says, "Istanbul." Istanbul. Yeah. "I'm going there next week I say." And we are fast friends. She does yoga she's interesting. It's all good.
It's getting dark. Marc's sleeping. I'm going to watch a movie and go to sleep. We're off to a good start. Stay tuned, things took a slight turn but we're back to good.......

Procrastination

Like everyone there are some things I am extremely good at and some things, not so much. Like for instance, yoga, good at that, and thinking up what to make for dinner night after night, not so good at that. I am okay with my weaknesses, I mean we can't all be Lisa or Kirsten (love you babys, but your making the rest of us look bad) can we? Okay, reel myself back in, where was I? Yes, procrastinating, this is one of my special gifts, I am so good at this, the rest of you should feel inadequate. I leave for the airport in less than twelve hours for basically three weeks and guess what I've packed? Nothing. How many notes have I left for the dog sitter? None. Loads of laundry left to do? About four. What did I do with myself all day, one might wonder, ( I know Marc always does) well, normal day, went to the gym,Target, Post Office, bank, saw Kirstens shamanic healer, had a birthday lunch at Teikoku with Lisa and then had a cocktail with the 70 year old doctor that hangs out at the bar at Lisa's golf club. Just a regular day right? So here that leaves me back at home, ready to pack. But I'm not. Soon, very soon. First I have to get the kids care packages together, make a few calls, return a few e mails, maybe turn on the episode of Weeds I slept through last night, get our stuff together so we can get the hell outta Dodge. I'm not worried though, come 4:00 tomorrow afternoon I will be at the airport packed and ready to go. Just waiting to pull a Rachel and tell the airline attendant to bring me two more drinks and close me out. See you in Athens.